AGM Minutes

This year's minutes are now on the web site.

Keith

AGM Minutes

Following Bob's timely reminder, I thought I should just bring everyone up to date on the AGM minutes. The committee are working towards getting them onto the website as soon as possible. Unfortunately they have been around two review cycles within the committee because of minor errors and this has taken, perhaps, longer than it should due to committee members' being busy and having other commitments.

I think we now have a final version but I would just like to wait until they have been ratified by the other committee members. I would rather publish the correct minutes late than rush to press with errors.

I would ask, therefore, for your continued patience and understanding.

Many thanks

Keith

Unplayed Boards

For some time now, I have been knowingly and wantonly flouting the Laws of Duplicate Bridge or, at least, the EBU's interpretation thereof, at BFBC club nights. What is this terrible misdemeanour I have been committing? It is my method of scoring a board that wasn't played because the players ran out of time.

My preferred policy has always been to record it as "Not Played" because a) that's what happened and b) it neither penalises nor rewards either pair.

A "No Play" doesn't count towards the players' results at all. Mathematically it's the equivalent of giving each pair their average for the session. I reasoned that this was fair and, more importantly, does not reward or penalise anyone for failing to play the board.

The EBU approved method is to award averages. There are three options. A+ is awarded to a pair deemed not at fault, A straight A for a pair "partially" at fault (whatever that means) or whose culpability cannot be determined and A- for a pair definitely at fault. In scoring terms, a straight A always maps onto precisely 50%, irrespective of the pair's performance on other boards. A+ is either 60% or the pair's average for the competition, whichever is higher, and A- is the either 40% or the pair's average, whichever is lower. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, TDs aren't supposed to award averages that add up to more than 50% so I shouldn't, for example, routinely award an A+ and an A on the same board.

My objection to this is that even 50% rewards a below par pair, by boosting their average, and penalises an above average pair who might have been expecting to score more than 50%. It follows from this that it would be in a poor pair's interests to play slowly in the hope of securing an average, particularly when faced with good opponents, and in a good pair's interests to flout the "don't start a new board" message in order to avoid getting an average.

I'm not suggesting that anyone would consciously employ such gamesmanship at BFBC but I don't like the idea of a scoring system that facilitates it.

My impression of the EBU's philosophy is that it is geared towards the punishment of offenders by encouraging TDs to award A- scores wherever blame can be apportioned.

Note that it is not possible to award an average to one pair and a "Not Played" to the other. So far as the scoring system is concerned, a board is either played or it's not.

I have been advised that it is permitted by the EBU for an affiliated club to decide to deviate from specific rules if that is the wish of the membership. In other words we, as a club, are at liberty to say that an unplayed board may be scored as such, at the director's discretion but it should be the members' choice, not a unilateral decision by me. Hence this blog post. I would dearly love to hear your comments. Do we, as I club, want to have a local rule, which differs from the EBU standard, that allows directors to score unplayed boards as "No Plays" or should we adopt EBU standards in all things and score unplayed boards as A, A+ or A- as appropriate?

Your comments please.

Keith

Keeping to time

I was pleased to have the opportunity, last weekend, of attending one of the EBU's director training sessions. Whenever you get any number of Tournament Directors gathered together, the conversation invariably turns, at some point, to the subject of slow play. I gleaned a couple of really useful suggestions from the course tutor and it's worth repeating some of the old ones because there is a lot we can all do to keep up to speed without actually having to play bridge any faster. In roughly chronological order, here's the list...

• NEW! When setting out the tables at the start of the session, please always lay one additional table with a cloth and four bidding boxes (opened and bidding cards stacked ready for use). The additional table should ideally be in the middle of the room or in the middle at one end. We need to experiment to find the best place. We'll call this the Spare Table.
• NEW! If two pairs are both ready to play and the only thing preventing you from starting is that your table is still in use, grab the boards you are supposed to be playing (or as many of them as are available) and set up camp on the Spare Table. Dummy on the first board can grab the Bridgemate as soon as it becomes free. Stay on the Spare Table until the end of the round but remember to return the Bridgemate and boards to the appropriate tables at the end of the round.
• When new opponents arrive at your table, or when you arrive at a new table, all discussion of all previous hands should cease. It's not only discourteous to your new opponents but might even give them illicit information about a board they've yet to play.
• Meet and greet by all means, but please get your cards counted and sorted as quickly as possible, especially if you are dealer. You can probably do this and indulge in small talk at the same time. I have found that counting my cards as three packets of three and a four is quicker and simpler than having to count to thirteen.
• If you are on opening lead, please select your lead and make it (face down) before you do anything else. Specifically, you should not be writing anything on your score sheet if you are on lead and haven't chosen your lead yet.
• North, if you are dummy or even if you're not and you have a spare moment, enter the contract details into the Bridgemate at your earliest convenience rather than waiting until play is complete.
• The Bridgemate rules say the Bridgemate should be passed to East or West for verification. If either East or West is dealer on the next board, always pass the Bridgemate to the other one. This allows the next board dealer to get out the next hand, and maybe even think about his bid, whilst the previous board's score is being ratified.
• Please don't let post-mortems delay scoring, putting the cards away or getting out and starting the next hand. Even if you finish the first hand early, the next one might be exceptionally difficult and time consuming.
• Please, please, please do NOT start a hand after the timer has instructed you not to. I cannot stress this enough. You may think you are being deprived of one board's worth of play but if you flout this rule then not just you, but the whole room, may be deprived of two or more board's worth of play if we have to cancel the last round due to lack of time. This is so important that I can, and will, exercise my director's right to apply a procedural penalty to anyone who regularly pushes their luck.
• NEW! If you are still playing a hand when the movement is sounded, it is now dummy's responsibility, immediately and without having to be prompted, to pass any completed boards on to the next table.
• NEW! When the movement is sounded, please cancel any review of previous results on the Bridgemate. Please do not invoke the review screen if the movement has already been sounded.
• After the movement has been sounded, please avoid all delays and further discussions. Get the cards back in the board, get the score agreed and vacate the table as quickly as possible.

Most of that is pretty obvious, but I think it's worth (re-)stating for a complete list.

All of which leads neatly on to the subject of scoring boards not played through lack of time, but now I'm going to open a real can of worms so I think that deserves a dedicated blog post all of its own. Watch this space!

Keith

Brown Cup

Are you interested in playing for Bracknell Forest Bridge Club in the Brown Cup?

The Brown Cup is also known as the Berks and Bucks "League of Four". This competition is very similar to the local Bracknell Bridge League (BBL) but with a wider catchment area for teams. This means you may have to travel further for away matches (last year we played in Emmer Green, Bourne End and Seer Green in Bucks) but your hosts usually provide more substantial refreshments at half time. The standard of play is similar to the BBL.

Each team has to be chosen from a squad of no more than six players so, if you do play, you would have to commit to playing in several matches.

The deadline for entries is the end of this month so if you would like to play, please can you let me or Ann Lloyd know as soon as possible.

Keith

Dealing Machine Update

We are back in business with our dealing machine.

Jenny and I just spent a pleasant day in Oxfordshire. After scouring the country lanes for about half an hour, visiting several villages, some of them twice, we eventually discovered Duplimate's hidden lair. Once there, David the Duplimate man replaced a couple of chips and, hey presto, the machine sprang into life. So, no expensive mother-board replacement and we were back on the road with the repaired machine in less than half an hour.

One dog walk and one pub lunch later we are now home again. All I have to do now is deal the boards for Monday. Don't forget, it's the individual. See you there.

Keith

Result Update

I have just posted an update to Monday's result. Boards 5 and 6 were scored the wrong way round in one round - NS and EW in the wrong seats (mea culpa). The revised result is now on the web site.

Duplimate

Duplimate update

Just to let you know, to avoid hideous courier costs, Jenny and I are off to sunny Oxfordshire on Thursday to deliver the Duplimate dealing machine to the repairers. The good news is that if the problem is easy to diagnose then we may be able to bring the machine home the same day. We could, therefore, have machine dealt boards in time for the individual next Monday. Watch this space.

Keith

Individual Competition

Just a quick reminder, next Monday (21st) is the individual competition for the Tom Fegarty cup. You don't need a partner but it would be helpful if you could turn up on time so I can ascertain numbers and select a movement.

All players will be expected to play the same standard system (published on the website) even if you find yourself opposite a regular partner.

Keith

Web site update

Hi guys and gals

I have been fiddling with the web site again. You should now see six buttons on the home page. The new one (fourth one in) should read "Running Club Nights". If you cannot see it then you need to do a page refresh.

I have updated the instructions for club nights, splitting it into two separate jobs - Tournament Director and Scorer. OK, the same person can do both jobs but it doesn't need to be the same person.

I have also added a new link in the Members' Area that takes you to a list of the current committee members. You can email the committee members from here and, in the fullness of time, you should be able to see their job descriptions but so far I've only done my own.

Keith

Yes!

Welcome to my second attempt to set up a blog for the Bracknell Forest Bridge Club. Hopefully this second one will be more successful than the first (which, for some strange reason, was causing technical problems). Well done for finding your way here! Watch this space for more news from Bracknell Forest Bridge Club.

Thank you!

Many thanks, Keith, for setting up the blog, an excellent idea.

Thanks also to all the members who came to the AGM yesterday and contributed to the lively debate.